Wednesday, March 12, 2008

London shops

Today I spent the afternoon wandering around Covent Garden and Soho. I visited a whole bunch of the shops that you guys kindly recommended: Muji, Topshop, Liberty, Orla Keily, The Cloth House to name a few :)

Check out the crazy Tudor facade of the Liberty shop!

I love the front of the Cloth House shop - very linen-ey and Japanese-craft-book-esque :)

I would have loved to take photos of/in all of the places, but I felt too guilty. I managed to sneak in one photo of a wall of beautiful rolls of felt in The Cloth House before noticing the security camera!

Mmm, so much beautiful wool felt.

The Orla Keily shop was gorgeous, but I felt uncomfortable just walking through it, let alone taking a photo! The shop assistant followed me around the store with a hawk eye ;)

Something is stressing me out quite a bit at the moment - where to go for our last week here before we're scheduled to fly home. We realised too late that it's the Easter weekend when our acommodation expires, and as a result flights and everything are crazy expensive. Any suggestions of where we could go/stay in Europe/UK that's not going to cost the earth?

37 comments:

You should be able to take a trip to Edinburgh fairly cheaply if you book the train a few days in advance. I think you'd enjoy some of the quirkier shops on the Grassmarket (not to mention the pubs!), plus most of the tourist attractions are in the city centre so you never have more than a 10 minute walk between them.

I've been finding it much easier to take photos in smart shops recently.

When I've seen something really gorgeous - such as this plate in Selfridges - I ask the shop assistant for the maker's card or leaflet. They usually say they don't have one and so I ask if I may take some photos instead. They always readily agree.

To get there from London, go to Victoria tube station and buy a ticket to Polegate. Once you reach Polegate, hire a taxi and ask for a ride to Herstmonceux Castle. The folks around there are familiar with this Castle because of the Castle being a school for international university students (including myself a few years ago).

Oh darn darn darn. I just visited the website for this castle and it's not open until April 12th. Darn it.

It's really worth your visit if you want to stay at a rural location for its rural setting, quietness, Castle, the grounds, the trails, and etc. But, do not stay for the accomodations as they're as basic as student dorms, one of which I stayed at a few years ago.

Other ideas include Brighton, Bath, Bristol (which is close to Bath), Liverpool/Manchester/Chester (all of which are close to each other), Cardiff, the Lake District (great for its natural beauty), Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds (a mini London; great for shoppers), Cornwall, etc. I wouldn't bother with York as I didn't find it to be anything but a town full of old history. Although I haven't been there, you could try to visit a few communities in Kent (in the southeast of London).

Don't think that planes are the only option. Consider trains, buses, or even renting cars.

It sounds like you want somewhere outside the UK so..... In my experience, Portugal and the Czech Republic both seemed cheaper for Aussies after travelling in England, though I guess flights might be the issue because of Easter. Ditto re. the Baltic states, which I really enjoyed when I was in Europe. Most of Scandinavia, unfortunately, is just as expensive, if not more, than the UK. Paris and Rome are fabulous but probably only a tiny bit cheaper too. As someone else said, if flight are cheapish to Amsterdam, it's great.

I'm sure some of the Dutch bloggers would love to meet you, have coffee, show you crafty shops etc.

Hi there, sorry I don't have any accommodation suggestions - just want to say how jealous I am of your trip to london! = ) I was there in 1998 and how I miss the shops!!!! I am very envious, ENJOY! Oh and I am coming to visit Australia (first time) in July - really looking forward to it! Good luck with getting a good find for the last week!

firstly, just to clarify I am not stalking you (although i do feel a bit like I am)Secondly, have a look at this website:travelzoo.co.ukThey have lots of last minute trips to UK/Europe and many are bargain prices.

If you decide to stay in the UK, you could hire car, and just drive the south coast for a week (Brighton, Bath, Bristol, Devon and Cornwall - all lovely places)

I've spent a bit of time here and there in Cork City, Ireland over the years. It's south of Dublin, and not nearly as pricey, but has a wonderful downtown with great restaurants and shops and the most lovely accents on the friendly people!

I second edinburgh! we had a lovely time up there for easter a few years ago just after we got married! we stayed in a super trendy hotel and there were lots of easter rates on and ours included dinner and breakie! cute shops, great castle, lots of cute pubs and trendy restaurants! we really loved it!

thanks for the photos of london, makes me misty eyed..till I remember catching the tube twice a day!

When I went to England last summer, I really enjoyed my stay in Bath. The Travelodge was soooo affordable (the best place I stayed in the whole 10 days!), and they have a really nice natural hot springs spa called Thermae. It was great for relaxing after days of train riding and sightseeing!

Where ever you decide to go....do not travel out the day before Easter and please buy the tickets ASAP! Buying tickets and traveling the day before Easter weekend can be quite difficult as so many people leave any city on such a holiday. Think of Thanksgiving here. Overnight train out of Paris to Nice on Easter weekend was the WORST train ride I ever took. Too crazy to even go into detail. Nice was amazing once we arrived and worth the "adventure".

Hi, what a pitty, I left London last wednesday, otherwise I could have met you. If you want to stay in GB gu somewhere to the country-site. But don´t you just gu to any travel-agency and ask, which destination they have for low-budget? Sometimes they have great last-minute-offers. If you´re looking for better weather then go to spain, portugal,... - or have you evenr been in marokko or tunesia?